"You ready?" asks a man in a garish capitol uniform, ready to pull the leaver that will take Tom up into the arena on his plate. He nods, not trusting himself to speak at the moment. He tries to stop his hands shaking as he smoothes down the tribute outfit he was given a couple of hours earlier: sturdy grey trousers that look made for walking outdoors, and a plain olive green shirt, with a jacket that zips up at the front.
All of a sudden he's moving, and bright daylight is making him squint as he rises up into the arena, seeing the other tributes around him. all of them are in a big circle surrounding an unusually small pile of kit and supplies, with some of the less useful ones further out from the centre, but impressive weapons and large bags which no doubt contain valuable items are in the centre.
Tom looks around at the arena now, trying to get his bearings. It's bright and sunny, with a pleasant breeze blowing over them. They appear to be on some kind of moorland, with a marsh off in the direction of the sun, and on the other side, behind him, a forest, with big hills rising beyond it. One side drops away in a slope, and there are a couple of large objects scattered across the skyline. They look like...no, they can't be. Yes they are, there are small houses, only two as far as Tom can see, but maybe more across the slopes.
A horn sounds, telling the tributes that the countdown is about to begin, before a large '60' appears in large lettering across the sky. Tom panics as the numbers change to 59, then 58, searching for Danny's plate; the plan will be much harder if they are on opposite sides, but then he sees him, with three tributes between him on his right. Danny nods to him, and looks like he gives a smile of encouragement, but it could just be a grimace as they think of what is about to happen.
The plan is simple. Tom and Danny will go forward together, with Tom getting a few useful supplies from around the edge and Danny defending him because he's the better fighter. They hoped that most of the tributes would go for the good stuff in the middle, and leave them more alone at the edge.
The numbers in the sky change to 10, and start to blaze red as they stand out. Tom wishes he was somewhere, anywhere else other than this, but then remembers that he needs to stay here, in the present, and focus. Danny needs him to focus, and he needs to give this his best shot. He starts to scan the objects nearest to them, looking for anything that could be useful, deciding on an orange rucksack not much bigger than his head, and what looks like an aluminium water canteen a few feet away. They don't need much, and the faster they get away the more likely they are to survive.
3...2...1. A klaxon sounds, and Tom is sprinting forwards, heading straight for the orange bag. A girl from one of the other districts passes him, heading straight for the centre and barely looking at Tom as she passes; he isn't a threat to her. Tom doesn't know whether to be comforted or offended by this, but he falls a second later, losing focus and forgetting to look where he's going. Within seconds, strong hands grab his jacket and pull him up, and Tom's about to panic, before he turns and sees it's Danny. He carries on then, grabbing whatever's nearest, trying not to stumble. When he's got as much as he thinks they can get away with, he looks round to see Danny pushing the boy from District nine away from them, so that he stumbles backwards into a girl from District five who turns around with a knife. Before Tom can react though, Danny spins him round and pushes him towards the forest, picking up something shiny from the ground himself before they start running, checking behind them for anyone following, but trying not to look at the bloodbath behind them.
They get away into the trees, but keep running until neither of them can continue, slowing to a walk as the ground starts to rise under their feet. They haven't heard anything coming for them for a while now, so they think it's safe, or at least, safe enough to slow down. Wordlessly, they turn so that they're walking along the bottom of the hill, looking for a good place to stop. Eventually, they come to a large old tree, with branches that start a way above their heads, but which Danny could definitely climb, but with his help Tom could too.
They drop their supplies on the ground, finally able to work out what they have. Danny got a knife, a sturdy looking thing with a slightly serrated blade. Tom got the water canteen, which looks like it could hold enough for two people to live on for a couple of days, and some kind of tablets in it which Tom suggests could be purifiers. In the bag, there's a black plastic sheet, and a length of rope the thickness of Tom's thumb, about three times as long as he is tall. Apart from the bag, there's a heavy silver packet which turns out to have dried fruit in it, and another, smaller knife.
"Not a bad haul," Danny says, when they've finished going through it. And Tom agrees. It could have been much worse. At least they're still alive. For now.